The Unexpected
by WhateverFloatsYourFancy
Summary: Someone's here. From the School... Max and the flock had just left Dr. Martinez's house after supposedly saving the world, when Angel uttered those lifechanging words. Once again their lives will be turned upsidedown with new allies and old enemies...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey! Hope you enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or anything related to it. At all. Unfortunately.**

"Pleeeease Max?!" Nudge had been pleading for what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes.

"Fine, but we can't spend more than a few days. And no more Coke and Mentoes, got it?" I said, glaring at Gazzy who shrugged sheepishly and Iggy who was trying to give him an inconspicuous high-five (which might sound easy, but when you're several thousand feet up, it's no walk in the park. Honestly, you try it). Immediately following my agreement, Nudge squealed and started rambling on about who cares what.

_Just take a deep breath Max, no need to get angry. _I thought to myself.

It was totally true too. We just left from Dr. Marti- umm, mom's house (man, is that going to take some getting used to), and we decided to take a sort of hiatus from finding the flocks families. It has been about two weeks since we left, but I have this strange feeling that it isn't over, and everyday that knotted, pit-of-the-stomach feeling seems to grow.

I felt someone staring at me, and turned to my right to see Fang. He raised his eyebrow slightly and I realized that my expression was probably a mix of anxiety and concern.

I sighed. _Darn Fang and his darned ability to hide his darned emotions_ (okay fine, I didn't say it _exactly_ like that, but you get the point). I gave him a "We'll talk about it later" look with absolutely no intention of actually telling him. What would he say? Lets see how this little conversation would go, shall we?

Me: "Umm, ya, so I have this feeling that we didn't really destroy the whole School thingy like we thought we did even though we definitely did. I just think that they will still come after us even though there is umm, no one to...well to come after us...but I still think that they will...ya"

Fang (taking several steps back): "What the H-E-double hockey sticks are you talking about?!"

And of course, after that unabashed display of insanity, he and the rest of the flock will realize exactly how batty and unbalanced I am and take off, leaving me to be the crazy old lady that lives down the street and makes pot holders to all hours of the night (_shudders at the thought)._

_Or, he would tell me that I have nothing to worry about and that even if they are still out there we could take them._ Dang logical side of me.

"Gazzy!" Angel yelled. The Gasman had tried to pulled a can of coke out of Angel's pack and put it in his own.

"Aww, come on Angel! I need it!" Gazzy pleaded back.

"Pray tell, for what?" I said, my light tone contrasting with my murderous expression.

Instantly Gazzy's face went slightly pale. Without thinking of it, he slowed down. Which wouldn't have been so bad if Iggy hadn't been behind him and focusing on trying to shut Nudge up. Iggy (who just so happened to be holding a now antsy Total) collided into Gazzy's feet, and began to drop. Nudge shrieked, causing everyone to hold their ears in pain (which included a now falling Iggy). Suddenly his wings snapped open (can we all say ouch?) and he was gracefully flying back up to where we were hovering.

"Thanks Angel...I guess" Iggy said, a slightly pained expression on his face. If you don't know what it feels like to free-fall and then open your wings, let me give you a realistic example. Has anyone ever tried to rip your limbs off? No? Well it feels something like that. Moving on.

Angel had the most adorable smile on her face: she was absolutely beaming. "No problem Ig." I smiled. When she needed to be, Angel could literally be an angel (let's not get into when she isn't feeling so helpful).

_Welcome to our lives. One near death experience after another._

I rub my temples, trying futilely to push out all my thoughts out (with no luck, incase you were wondering), and looked down to see where I said we would land (most people would look before agreeing, but those would be the normal, happy, non-mutant type. I have no such luck.

We had been heading towards the sun all day and just enjoyed the freedom of flying without the fear of beening annihilated (well, at least that is what everyone else was feeling, not so much me). We all felt that familiar (and yet still painful) burning at the back of our eyes when we flew towards the sun, but at least it wasn't the bleeding and bruises we get from whipping Eraser butts (just thinking about how many times we have fought them and won never ceases to put a smile on my face). I turn my slightly burning eyes down to the ground and see nothing but acres and acres of green forests. Combine that with the warm sun, no chances of rain or Erasers, and you have got one bunch of relatively happy avian-human mutant freaks.

I spot a small river and decide that that is where we will be headed.

"Alright everyone, river at ten o'clock." We all start angling down, savoring the feeling of the wind and sense of freedom we get when flying. In the far distance I heard the sound of cars and knew there was a town near by incase we needed something. Mom had given us so many things (including cookies, _drool_) that we probably wouldn't need anything for a week or two.

After touching down, I survey the area around us. I could try and describe it poetically, but basically, it's just a bunch of trees. Trees to the left and trees to the right. Nothing too special.

"Max?!" Nudge and Angel looked like they eaten a box of Krispy Kream doughnuts each and than decided it would be fun to inhale a few candy bars. They were literally jumping up and down.

I smiled. Yes, I know I know, I'm a softy, but they just looked so darn cute.

"Yes you can go, but be careful, and stay together." I answered, already knowing that they would want to swim. They immediately ran full speed to the river with Gazzy in tow. I looked around the small clearing and Fang and I began to clear away some of the debris and set up a place for a fire. Iggy began to light the fire and took out some food to cook. While I was setting up the sleeping bags in the traditional circle around the fire, I looked over at Iggy and practically choked with gratitude. If Iggy wasn't there, I don't know how I would have gotten this far (we would be hungry _all_ the time or have food poisoning 24/7. Trust me on this). The same goes for all of them: Iggy with his mouth-watering cooking no matter what the ingredients, Fang with his support and loyalty (trust me, if Fang wasn't an avian-human mutant, I would have sworn that he was a golden retriever), Nudge with her ha-

I felt a tap on my shoulder and quickly turned around. Fang was right behind me and to my embarrassment, I had probably been standing here day dreaming about the flock with a sappy expression on my face.

Before I could blush Fang spoke: "What's wrong?"

I looked down at the ground: Should I tell him? He'll bug me to no end about it and get mad at me, but if-

I was shaken out of my train of thought (again! What's wrong with me?), but not by a little tapping on my shoulder. This time it was because of a crash. And it was in the direction of where Nudge, Gazzy and Angel had bolted of to.

_Crap. This can't be good._

Instantly I ran top speed toward them. I only barely saw the trees and foliage rush past me and the faint outline of Fang and Iggy to my left.

_Why didn't one of us go with them? If something happens..._I couldn't even finish that thought I didn't want to think about what would happen.

_Whatever happened is all my fault..._

I poured on the speed, using my feelings as fuel and pushing my legs until they were numb from the pain. I used all of the leftover anger (which is a lot, by the way) I had from the School, from Jeb, from the Erasers and drove myself beyond what I thought were my limits. When we broke through to the clearing I saw them. Nudge, Gazzy and Angel. Playing and splashing in the water. If I wasn't so relieved at that moment I would have been furious.

"What happened?" I said, well wheezed was more like it. The pain that I had ignored while running came back with a vengeance.

Gazzy looked up, apparently not surprised in the least that we were there and practically doubled over from exhaustion.

"You have to see this, it's _so_ cool" Gazzy swim to the shore and started looking up at the trees. Fang, Iggy and I looked at Nudge and Angel to try and get so kind of explanation, but they were sitting on a large rock in the middle of the river looking over at Gazzy with large smiles on their faces.

I looked back at Gazzy who had begun to climb a tree whose limbs were extended over the water. He took hold of a branch that, in my opinion, didn't look to sturdy. I was about to tell him to get down before he hurt himself, when he jumped off the tree, still holding the branch.

"Geronimo!" He yelled at the same time the branch snapped (which would explain the crashing sound we heard before). Gazzy landed in the water with a loud splash and came up with a large smile on his face.

"Wasn't that awesome? You guys gotta try it!"

"Umm, maybe later Gazzy. I don't feel very "Tarzan-ish" right now." I said, not sure exactly how I should respond. I heard Fang describing to Iggy what Gazzy did. His eyes lit up and before he could do anything rash, I raised my hands.

"Don't even think about it. I would rather you guys kept your limbs unbroken, thank you very much." Iggy had a very realistic looking disappointed face on, but if I hadn't seen it a million times before when I made him get rid of "all" his bombs (and then have to say the same thing the next day), I would have believed it. Fang's expression was unreadable (as per normal) but there was something about it that seemed too innocent...

I narrowed my eyes at them but before I could smack them at the back of head for thinking about whatever they were thinking, they grabbed me and started to drag me towards the river.

_They wanna throw me in the water? Bring it on boys._

I maneuvered my leg behind Fangs' legs and kicked him the back of the knees. He fell (quite ungracefully, might I add) pulling Iggy and I down with him. I used that momentum and threw myself back towards Iggy, causing him to tumble as well. I shot up as fast as I could (luckily Fang's shoe laces were caught on a root) and grab both of them. I threw them back as far as I could (apparently they had _way _too many chocolate chip cookies because they were very heavy), and pravtically snapped my arms in the process. They both landed with a satisfying splash and resurfaced sputtering like idiots.

_Serves them right. Nobody throws __Maximum Ride__ into the water! _I thought, smiling.

They were both completely shocked and then suddenly their expressions were calm.

"Iggy." Fang said, turning to Iggy with a very composed voice (despite the fact they he was absolutely soaked).

"Fang." Iggy said, in the exact same voice.

_Oh no._

They both lunged out of the water straight towards me. I turned around, trying to make it back to camp, but I felt two pairs of strong hands grabbing and (_surprise surprise!)_ pulling me back towards the water. I fought as hard as I could without actually hurting them, but apparently it wasn't enough. I landed in the water with my tailbone hitting the hard ground. I resurfaced and probably looked exactly like they did. _Like an idiot, _I thought to myself dryly.

_Maybe I should have hurt them..._I thought as the flocks laugher made its way to my ears.

I slowly got up "accidentally" splashing Fang and Iggy. I had the luck of wearing jeans today and a long sleeved green shirt. _I will definitely get them back for this._ I looked down and realized with a groan that I still had my running shoes on. I made my way back to the shore (Fang and Iggy avidly avoiding me) and sat down on the ground. I took off both of my shoes and threw one at Fang and one at Iggy, both hitting them on the head.

"Hey! That's not fair! I couldn't see it coming." Iggy complained, rubbing the side of head where my soggy shoe hit him.

"Whatever, Ig." I said, smiling and rolling my eyes.

"Max?"

I turned my head to where the voice was coming from. I thought at first it was Angel, but I realized it was Nudge.

_Wait, Nudge never speaks so quietly...or so little._

Nudge was looking to her left at Angel, who was as white as a ghost with eyes like saucers. I went into leader/no-nonsense mode. No one made a sound.

"Angel, what's wrong?"

"Someone's here. From the School I think." She said it so quietly I could barely hear. I visibly saw Nudge and Gazzy stiffen, and I knew that Fang's eyes would be scanning the immediate area.

"Nudge and Gazzy help Angel." I said trying to keep my voice normal and nonchalant incase whoever was there was listening. They seemed to understand and swam normally but cautiously to Fang, Iggy and I who were on shore. I could see the worry on Nudges' face and fear flash through Gazzy eyes. Angel was concentrating hard on something and Fang was at her side the second she was on shore.

"Alright everyone, let's go back to camp." I tried to keep my voice from showing any kind of worry, but I was preoccupied with millions of thoughts racing through my head.

_Who was it? How many? Why now? Was I right before, and not just paranoid? What is Angel doing? Is she trying to find out more info?_

I thought all of this while grabbing Nudges' hand and beginning to walk fast through the forest. Fang had taken Angels' hand and Iggy was holding Total with Gazzy at his side. I moment we entered our camp site we made a familiar mad dash to pack everything. The food Iggy was cooking before we heard the crash was still over the fire and burnt beyond recognition. We just about had everything ready (and I'm pretty sure we had an all time record of speedy pack-up) when Angel snapped to attention.

"Oh, there's no need to pack everything up. They're coming." We all looked at her, completely frozen. Nudge with a granola bar in her mouth while stuff a blanket in her bag, Fang putting out the fire and rolling up his sleeping bag while putting the frying pan away (how does he do it?). Iggy and Gazzy were putting away their stuff (stuff as in bombs and the like) and I was grabbing everything left behind as well as both my things and Angels.

"What do you mean sweetie?" I asked, not sure if I really wanted an answer.

"They heard us and they decided to come." She unbuckled Total (who was strapped into his baby carrier, probably by Fang), and walked to the middle of the site and sat down, talking to Total about what it feels like to breath underwater.

The rest of the flock just stared at me, still frozen. What should I do?

Okay options:

1) We stay, which possibly means fighting, depending on what's coming.

2) We U and A, possibly causing whatever it is to attack us from behind.

3) We all go to sleep and dream of rainbow bunnies and purple spotted daffodils in a land where everything is made of chocolate covered sunshine and cotton candy unicorns.

I was about to tell everyone what I decided when I looked over at Fang. He had a "You know I don't like bunnies and unicorns so don't even think about it" look. Well, looks like I'll have to pick something else then.

"Keep packing." I said authoritatively.

Angel looked at me and shrugged. A smile on her face. "Too late." She said.

Iggy's head shot over toward the woods and then I heard it too. Someone was coming. I signaled everyone to get behind me and without a sound everyone moved. Fang had moved to my right and gave me a small, but encouraging, nod. I did the same to him and focused back on the sound coming from the dense forest in front of me. After a moment or two, I began to make out slow foot steps. I tensed, ready to fight, and waited...

**A/N: It wasn't as action-packed amazing as I'd have liked it to be, but I needed to get down the basics and background (etc) so next chapter will be more interesting. I'll update probably in 3 days at latest. I hope tomorrow, but if it is tomorrow, it'll probably be later. Maybe. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or anything related to it. Sucky, isn't it? But I do own the new characters so ha!**

I could feel the tenseness in the air all around me: we were nervous. For good reason too, come to think of it. We had gone to all the trouble of practically dying on several occasions and then after apparently beating them, they crawl out of their grave like zombies and start coming after us again!

_One breath in, one breath out..._

I stood there, completely soaked to bone, ready to fight and if necessary, die for my flock. They deserved better than this. They deserved a life where they didn't have to run, didn't have to fight. They deserved a _normal_ life, where they could laugh and swim without someone tracking them down. And if some stuck up jerks think they can come and ruin those chances of any kind of normalcy, they would have to deal with me. Trust me, it would be a fight to death. For them.

The sun had set, but the sky was still a bright orange and pinky colour that slowly receded to blue. I could see a few feet into the forest, but not too far. I felt Fang tense even more beside me, and I could hear the slow steps coming closer. We all saw them at the same time (well, with the obvious exception of Iggy).

There was two of them. A girl and a boy.

They approached cautiously, looking at everyone in turn. The boy was tall: probably taller than Fang, with broad shoulders. He had longish red brown hair that had a slight wave to it and his eyes were hazel. He wore dark jeans with an evergreen coloured t-shirt and had a black back-pack.

When I looked at the girl, I had to stifle a gasp. I could tell by listening to the reactions of the others, minus Fang of course, that they seen her the same moment I did. She had very long, wavy black hair, and was slightly smaller in height than her companion. Three things struck me about her: her beauty, her scars and her eyes.

She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Practically everything about her was perfect: her face, her figure, everything. She would have put the prettiest models to shame. The only thing that wasn't faultless about her was her scars. She was wearing a dark purple v-neck shirt and dark jeans that fit her flawlessly, but all up and down her arms, hands and collarbone were countless scars. Some were long and deep, while others were short and shallow and everything in between. But there was something striking about her eyes. Something unusual. Under her thick lashes there were vibrant green orbs that seemed impossible to look away from.

As they entered the middle of the clearing, they stopped, leaving plenty of space between the us and them. We stared at each other for several minutes, and not one sound came from anyone. Well, that is until Angel took the liberty of making introductions.

"Hi!" She said brightly, stepping up to them. They looked at her, neither expression changing.

_So they are good at hiding their emotions, I'm sure they will just adore Fang than._

"The one in the red is Max, she's our leader, the one beside her is Fang, and the guy directly behind him is Iggy, with Gazzy on his right. Nudge is the one biting her tongue to keep form talking." She said in a rush nodding to us when she called our names. "Oh, and I'm Angel." She added sweetly and shyly as only she could do.

Personally I was appalled that she had done that.

_What was she thinking?! Is she trying to get us killed?! Or worse, captured again?!_

I was looking with my eyes slightly wide with shock, and I looked over at Fang, who looked the same except the small trace of fury in his eyes.

_Well at least I'm not the only one thinking murderous thoughts._

The girl and boy nodded at us and introduced themselves.

"My name is Aurora," the girl started, "and this is Blaze."

I'll bet you ten bucks that Fang and Blaze will hit it off. Honestly, _Blaze?_ They must have a lot in common, beside the obvious like lack of showing emotions, abnormally strange names, and total hotness.

Yes, I know, I said they were hot. Let's all giggle and just get it out of our system now.

I looked from Angel to Aurora and Blaze before speaking.

"Who the heck are you and why are you here and how did you find us?" Way for me to be diplomatic.

Aurora sighed, and weariness flashed in her captivating eyes, but then quickly recovered. It first sort of emotion she had displayed since they arrived.

She stepped forward towards a log near what used to be a camp fire, with Blaze slowly following suit. She looked up at us and spoke for the second time.

"We'll tell you our story if you tell us yours."

I looked at her a moment before deciding. _They know our names and what we look like and the fact that we have freakin' __wings,__ so what the heck? We've got nothing to loose except our lives._

"You go first." I said with more force than was probably necessary. She nodded and slowly everyone in the flock came and sat down on either the ground or a log in the middle of the clearing.

Before either Aurora or Blaze sat down they took off their back packs and slightly spread out their wings.

_Holy mother of shoot. Their __wings__. They had __wings_

Everyone froze in amazement as we saw them. Blazes' wings looked exactly like copper and even with out much light they were shining brilliantly. It looked like the feathers that covered his wings made of copper wire, but yet they had a softness to them that made them even more astounding.

Hers were completely different. Her wings were the blackest black imaginable. They were not at all like Fang's wings. You could see the feathers on his wings, just like everyone else's in the flock. But not Aurora. It didn't look like she had feathers at all, it was just the deepest black: no outlines of feathers, no light making her wings slightly gleam, nothing. I remember (because honestly, how could I forget) the tank: it was black and seemed never ending, but her wings took that idea and raised it up a level or two. There was nothing but endless black. It looked as though you could jump through them and fall eternally. There would never be a way for me to properly describe them.

"Amazing." I heard Gazzy softly whisper. I looked over to Iggy and saw a calm expression on his face, knowing that later we would describe what was happening.

I turned back towards the newcomers, but found it hard to focus on anything but their wings. Reluctantly I looked up at them. They were sitting there, calm and with surprising amount of patience, as we were all just staring at them and have probably been for minutes.

"So, umm, what's your story?" I asked, trying my best to keep my eyes off of their wings.

The moment Aurora began to speak, everyone tore their eyes off of her wings and immediately paid attention.

**A/N: Hey again, I know I said tomorrow, but I decided to make the intros for the new characters and stuff and than go on to main plot stuff (aren't I just so kind?) So you get this chapter now, and probably one tomorrow or Wednesday at latest. I've already typed most of it, so don't fret! 2 Chapters in one day, I'm on a role! I'm going for at least (bare, bare minimum) 1000 words a chapter (the first was triple and this is over so lovely for my goal and I). I would love to hear what you think about it so far, so do tell. Until tomorrow...Oh, wait, sorry about the cliffie but I wanted info/action next chapter and I didn't want this one to be 4000 words, so I stopped. I know, mean, but another chapter is coming tomorrow!**

**WhateverFloatsYourFancy**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or anything related to it. I do own new characters. **

"We were "created" in the School as you most likely were," she started, "and escaped a year ago. We know of you, but never meant to find you, nor tried to."

Apparently I had made a puzzled look because she elaborated.

"They talked about you and your capabilities when we were still in the School, and we also heard of the destruction of the Itex Headquarters."

"Really?" Honestly, someone should just duct tape my mouth tonight, because nothing is coming out but stupidity.

"I'm pretty sure everyone in the whole world has heard of it Max." she stated not unkindly considering I basically called her a liar.

"When we were first made, they thought of us as failures." she continued, "They thought didn't have any personality at all. We never smiled, laughed or showed any type of emotion. They ended up using us for trying out new tests, and "working out the kinks" as they put it. We were also used for practice for the Erasers."

"So you were void of personality when you were little?" Fang asked, the first thing he had said to them. In my opinion, it was a stupid question. _Didn't she already tell us?_

Aurora looked at him, "No. They thought we were, but in fact we were smart. We knew what they wanted and wouldn't give it to them so they deemed us failures, giving us a better chance of escape. We kept it up for awhile, but eventually they figured it out."

The corners of her mouth slowly quirked up and Blaze was smiling too.

"They did the simple and most basic tests that we completely made a joke of. They were so mad at us. Someone from the administration came in and yelled at them. They were complete idiots."

Blaze chuckled and looked over at Aurora.

"Remember when we were talking and they couldn't understand us? They were furious."

She chuckled too and turned back to the flock, filling us in.

"When we were "forgotten" we made up a secret language of sorts, so they couldn't understand us. When they found us useful again, we would speak it all the time, telling jokes to one another when they were experimenting on us, trying to make each other laugh. It drove them crazy. They spent hours and hours torturing us and interrogating us trying to make us tell them what we were saying. We shouldn't have done it, and they certainly got their revenge, but it was a way at getting back at them. A very satisfying way." She added with a smile.

"They trained us to do whatever they wanted us to do, and eventually we escaped. The first time was a 3 years ago, the second was a year and a half ago, and the last was 6 months ago."

I was dying to ask them a question and had been thinking about it in the back of my mind the whole time.

"Do you guys have any powers?" I asked, trying to keep my face expressionless.

Aurora looked at Blaze and he just stared at her. After a minute or so, he turned back to us.

"My body temperature is abnormally high, so depending on what I touch, I have the ability to burn things." Everyone stared flabbergasted.

"So, you can make fire?" Iggy asked, a delighted gleam in his eyes.

"I can't make a flame leap up form my hands or anything like that, but if I touch something and I wanted it to set on fire, I could do it."

"Cool." Iggy and Gazzy said in unison. I had the mind to smack them for even thinking about whatever they were thinking. _Just what they need, a human lighter to set off their bombs._

"I have advanced abilities." Aurora said after a minute of silence while we waited for her to start. "I am faster, quicker, smarter, quieter, than even most mutants. I also am an exceptional strategist." She said this, not with pride or accomplishment, but with a slight sadness and reluctance. She didn't want any of those things.

"After they deemed us "worthy of training", we were split up a lot of the time. They called us "special experiments" and only the people with high level clearance could come near us. We were designed for something specific. Me in particular. I was supposed to be a fighter. The best. They thought I would do it willingly of all things." She said sarcastically. "They figured I would jump at the chance to be made with the sole purpose of destroying things. When I didn't do what they wanted they would hurt me, saying "the institution needs you if they are going to succeed". Eventually they got the point that that wasn't the best motivator, and began to hurt Blaze instead." She sighed, looking regretful? Sad? Probably both.

"Naturally, I did everything they told me after that. But the jerks over looked something. They wanted me to be the best and I was. I could do everything they told me to do, and in most cases easily. I could take on scores Erasers, plan everything perfectly, could fly and run with advanced speed, had quick thinking, and exceptional fighting skills." She smiled for a brief moment and continued, "Oh, and a bad attitude, but they weren't very thrilled about that one. Blaze and I talked about escaping and made plans. It wasn't that hard considering they still couldn't understand a word we said. We escaped, but they were tracking us because we had some little tracking device embedded right beside our lungs."

All of the flock looked shocked at that last remark. Tracking them? The white coats? Here?

Immediately seeing our expression she reassured us.

"Don't worry, we got them out a few weeks ago."

"Umm, how?" I asked confused, my chip had been in my _arm_ and it was dangerous to take out, but next to their _lungs_? I'm no doctor, but I think your lungs are pretty important.

She looked at me expressionlessly. "Carefully." was all she said.

"Now, your turn."

I started our long, complicated story, with help of the flock. When we lived with Jeb, Angel being captured, going to school, destroying Itex, and finally ending up here. Everyone explained their own powers (because according to Nudge I wasn't "describing them properly". Geez.)

"So you still have a chip in you?" Blaze asked. It was the only thing that was said between either of them since we started our story.

"No." _But it's possible the other might..._

"Do the others?"

"No." It sounded like a question, and immediately they understood.

"They will be tracking you. All experiments have a chip placed in them once they live past a predetermined age. It's standard procedure"

Silence.

"Max?" I heard Nudge's voice. It was small and nervous. "How do we get them out?"

"I dunno sweetie. We'll go back to mom's house and get her to do it." But I didn't like the plan as soon as it came out of my lips. _We could be endangering them. I wouldn't be able to bear the burden of either mom's or Ella's deaths the rest of my life. Is it worth the risk?_

I looked over at my flock, their faces nervous, worried or scared. _Yes it is. I need to fix this._

"We'll leave soon." I said and tried to smile. It fooled the younger ones who relaxed, but I knew it didn't work on Fang: his eyes held anxiety and he was tense. I nodded just a fraction of an inch, hoping to reassure him. After a moment he looked away.

I turned back to the flock and Blaze and Aurora to find everyone talking freely.

Aurora and Total were talking (well, Total was talking, Aurora was just listening), about the efficiency of solar power (he had talked to Iggy non-stop about it on the way here, and Iggy was seriously thinking of dropping him).

_Poor girl._

"...and we had like 25 cans of coke too! We opened them up and put the Mentoes in, and it was amazing and so much fun! They totally exploded" Gazzy and Iggy were telling Blaze, who looked perplexed and amused.

"Gazzy, it was in the middle of the night and we were all sleeping! You call that fun, waking up from the sounds of mini explosions right beside your head, and being covered in sticky liquid from head-to-toe?!" I said, remembering the second worst wake up call of my life. He shrugged and told him how the next night they got even more cans of coke and Mentoes and made an even bigger explosion. _The first absolutely worst wake up call of my life._

Suddenly Aurora bolted up, her green eyes wide and head slightly tilted. Blaze got up and grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him.

"What is it?"

She seemed to snap out of whatever it was she was in, and swore.

"They are here, coming in fast and wanting to fight."

"Who?" I asked, not noticing anything different.

"Erasers"

"What? We destroyed Itex though. Even you said you heard of it." I was clearly not getting what was going on, but I was nervous anyway. She was super mutant right? The best? (_well, besides me of course)_

"Yes, Itex was destroyed, but a lot of the new metal Erasers survived. They were programmed-"

"...to destroy us." Everyone in the flock finished in unison.

"So, that's our cue to leave. Guys?" They were already packed, and we were about to leave we heard a familiar sound...and not a very good one.

Aurora had a murderous expression on her face. "It's Caden"

_Who's Caden? _I thought, but didn't get a chance to ask before they were practically on top of us. I felt a rush of air and saw Aurora flying through the air, faster than I expected, launching herself at the Flyboys. In the brief few seconds it took me to unfurl my wings and join her, I saw a number Flyboys go down, most of them in pieces.

_Will this never end? _Two Flyboys down, and a good chunk of another. _Honestly, it's like they are play the same movie over and over _Kicked another in head and hurting my feet because I forgot to put shoes on after throwing them at Fang and Iggy. _I already know how this one ends..._ Another one grabs me from behind trying to rip me to pieces. Fang is suddenly there and kicks the Flyboy in the back. It drops instantly. _...we win!_

**A/N: So I kept my promise, and there it is! Next chapter will be up before the weekend. So, what did you think?**

**WhateverFloatsYourFancy**

**P.S- The putting the Coke in Mentoes thing is real and if you really are going to try it, do it carefully! Trust me on this. I do not recommend it, and will take no responsiblity if you try it and ruin something (which includes yourselfs!)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: The things that I own are few and far between and unfortunately, Maximum Ride is not one of them. Although I do own new characters! And on that note, I'm sooooooo exhausted! Jobs suck. Well what are you waiting for? Read!**

"Gad doof nee, new erk!" Man did I suffer in that translation. We had been fighting the Flyboys for only a few minutes when they started to retreat. Unfortunately the one that was holding me didn't seem to get the picture that we were winning (as per normal).

I drove my elbow into his stomach hard and he (_finally)_ released his hold on my mouth.

"I said get of me you jerk!" I flew up a little a kicked him as hard as I could in the face. He flew back right into Fang, who kicked him in the back. I watched him fall like a ton of bricks with grim satisfaction.

"Jerk" I mumbled. I then turned to the flock. "Report!"

"A-okay!" Angel said smiling: she barely had a scratch on her beside a few bruises on her arms.

"Fine" Fang's nose was bleeding a little, but he looked relatively okay.

"I'm okay, but when we first started fighting them I thought for sure we would lose because there must have been hundreds of them but then we were all like "Wham!" "Pow!" and "Take that!" and I -"

"I'm good" said Iggy who (thankfully) had put his hand over Nudges' mouth. He had a large bruise on his face and a cut on his chin, but nothing too serious.

"I'm fine." Gazzy had a black eye, but was beaming. "Did you see how many of them I beat, Max? It was probably like half of them."

I smiled. "I'm sure you did Gazzy. Good work."

When we were fighting, I managed to take a look over at Aurora and Blaze. There was probably about 8 Flyboys attacking Aurora at once, and every time she beat one (which she was doing constantly), another one took it's place. Blaze had been fighting several at once too. They had gone in front of us and had tried to stop most of them coming in, but, mind you, there must have been at least a few hundred, so even with Aurora (the apparent super mutant), some of them got through to fight us.

"Alright, let's head back down to camp and clean up."

While we were flying back down, I couldn't help but wonder about Aurora. She had conveniently left out of her story how she got the scars. It didn't seem to make sense. It's practically impossible for us to get scars, thanks to our quick healing avain-human freak genes, but Aurora had _tons_ of scars. What did she do, and why didn't she tell us?

By the time we made it back to camp, I was paranoid and suspicious (I'm _really_ getting sick of feeling like that all the time. Why couldn't I just be happy? Man, would _that_ be a change!). Fang started making a fire while everyone else was cleaning up their cuts and scrapes. I headed over to Nudge, who a gash on her cheek, and helped her wash up, keeping Aurora and Blaze in my peripheral vision. Nudge was talking to me about who knows what and everyone seemed to be relaxed and sorta... happy?

_Haven't they figured out something's wrong? How could they trust them?_

Angel and Gazzy were both talking to Aurora at once, while Iggy, Angel and Total were talking to Blaze. Fang was fixing himself up and getting some food ready.

_I can't believe this. How can they be so comfortable with them? We just met them a few hours ago! When did we get so trusting anyway?_

Sigh, Too many questions.

After bandaging the cut on my arm, I walked to the very edge of camp, just outside of the trees. I started to zone out like I did at watch. You could never be fully aware of everything like during the day and still manage to stay awake, so it was necessary to zone out. It's kinda like you're only aware of key things, like the sounds around the camp, movement, anything that is suspicious. So there I stood, leaning against a tree, aware and focused, and yet not.

I don't know how long I stood there, but eventually Fang came up to me.

"Max? What are you doing?"

I looked up at his eyes and said nothing. I could see in his eyes his change of moods.

"Max, go get some rest. You need it." He wasn't very happy and apparently not impressed with my behaviour. Whatever. Like I care.

"Fang, it's fine. I don't want to go to sleep."

"Be that as it may, you still need to." Darn. I thought I could get around this one.

I was about to respond, but something caught my eye. It was Aurora, tucking Angel in and saying goodnight.

Oh man did that set me off.

Immediately I ran over and positioned myself in front of Angel, my fists were clenched and I was ready to fight.

"Back off!" I yelled and everyone turned and stared at me in shocked.

"Max, I was just-"

"Just shut it okay? We don't need you!" I gave her the deadliest stare I could, and believe me, if looks could kill, she'd be six feet under.

_How dare she try and take my place! _I thought, suddenly realizing something. Is that what was really bothering me? Okay, she was strong, fast, smart, an amazing fighter, a good protector (Blaze didn't have a scratch on him) and seemed to be a good leader.

_Well, I guess that the answer to that question is an obvious and blaring "Yes!"._

I was still in fighting stance over Angel and glaring at Aurora, when Fang came and grabbed my arm. We (well, _I _) started stumbling through the woods, over roots and through branches until coming to the river we had been at a few hours ago.

"What the heck was that about?"

"She doesn't have a right to do things like that; she's not part of the flock!" I was furious, and I was pretty sure Fang was too. Although the big difference was he was most likely angry at me.

"Max, she was trying to help. We were talking and Iggy was saying good night to Gazzy and Nudge. She thought-"

"So what, you guys are like best friends now?!" I interrupted, "Well, I don't want her near any of the flock, she's dangerous Fang. D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S." Once we both stopped yelling, the silence seemed deafening.

_Oh crap. She probably has enhanced hearing too. Not that she would need it to hear us. The whole flock probably heard too. Darn it._

I turned away from Fang, towards the river, and sat down a little ways from him on a piece of drift wood. The silence continued until I heard Fang's light footsteps coming towards me. He sat down beside me and looked out towards the river as well.

"Max," He began quietly, "She isn't going to replace you."

_How come he can read me like a book, God it's annoying._

"That's not what I meant," I lied, matching his hushed volume, "I just think that-"

"Max, you're lying. She doesn't even want to be apart of the flock. Haven't you been paying attention the past few hours?"

_What? Not want to be apart of the flock? This is news to me._

"What do you mean?"

"Nudge and Angel have been asking her non-stop since we made it back to camp, and Gazzy and Iggy have been trying to persuade Blaze. They have both declined."

I guess I wasn't paying as much attention as I thought I was.

"But, then why are they here? Why didn't they leave right after the fight?" _And more importantly, did you ask them to stay? _I added in my mind.

"Umm, if you haven't noticed, it's the middle of the night, and they do need to sleep."

"Oh...right." Wow, I didn't even notice how dark it was. Maybe I just shouldn't be on watch anymore. Not even I trust myself to do it now. Stupid stupid, stupid.

After a moment, Fang slowly stared to speak. "I think maybe you should talk to her."

"What?!" I turned to him and half-yelled.

"Max, would you think about it for a minute? You are the leader of our flock right? Well, she the leader for theirs. It makes sense to talk about what's going to happen now."

_Sigh, why does he have to be right __all__ the time?_

After trying to think of a way of getting out of it, and coming up with squat, I gave in.

"Fine." I mumbled, not happy at all. For all I knew she could be furious at me for exploding, which was probably true. _Darn me and my big mouth._

I sighed, and got up, slowly making my way back to camp with Fang at my side. Once we came to the clearing, I saw everyone in the flock in bed. I tried not to roll my eyes.

_Like they are actually sleeping. They probably made a mad dash to get in bed when they heard us coming._

Aurora and Blaze were sitting on a log near the fire. She looked over at me but Blaze put a hand on her shoulder and spoke quietly to her, the expression on his face unreadable.

_Which probably means something's up. That's just wonderful. He probably hates me now too.  
_

Aurora spoke firmly to him and got up, walking towards me. Blaze looked at her ruefully, then got out his sleeping bag.

_Holy crow, this little conversation isn't going to be awkward._ Note the heavy amounts of sarcasm.

Instead of stopping and waiting for me, she walked past me: right back into the woods. I almost stepped back away from her when she came so close. Her expression seemed different although I couldn't quite place it.

_Not awkward in the least._

**A/N: I know I said I would update before the weekend, ****but I had some kinda major things to deal with. Next chapter will be M & A's convo (trust me it will answer some questions). I'm trying to make my writing readable, but like previously stated, I'm exhausted! So ****PLEASE REVIEW**** and tell me what's bad/good/horrible-no-good-dirty-rotten, okay?**

**WhateverFloatsYourFancy**


End file.
